A MAN left depressed by the death of his 13-year-old son was dragged from his car and arrested by police after he locked himself in his vehicle following a high-speed chase across Teesside.

Four police officers smashed all the windows of David Nixon’s Nissan Primera after he stuck a finger up at them from inside the locked vehicle. Nixon, 36, of Abingdon Road, Easington, Saltburn, had led police on an eight-minute pursuit which ended when officers used a Stinger device to puncture the tyres.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Nixon was in a state of “morbid depression” when the incident happened in March this year.

Nixon’s son, also called David, died in December last year after losing his battle against a brain tumour. Just weeks later Nixon’s father also died.

At the time of David Jnr’s death, his father called him “the best son in the world”.

Teesside Crown Court heard that Nixon’s depression led to a row with his partner on Sunday, March 6.

He was parked up in a car park in Redcar when he saw a police vehicle, and he drove off at speed.

A police traffic car took over the pursuit as he reached speeds of 75mph in a 30mph area and then 95mph in a 50mph zone before topping 105mph on the A19.

Other officers set up the Stinger device and Nixon ended up doing a 90-degree swerve to a halt near the Post House Hotel, in Low Lane, Hemlington. Officers feared Nixon would drive off again as his car engine was still running.

Emma Atkinson, prosecuting, said after his removal from the car Nixon said he had had a domestic with his partner in the evening.

She said: “He knew the officers were chasing him but he had no idea what speed he was travelling.”

He had one previous conviction for dangerous driving 18 years ago.

Duncan McReddie, mitigating, said: “He made full admissions in interview in which he forthrightly describes his driving as dangerous and he knows that there is little that can be said to mitigate the offence.

“In the previous December his 13-year-old son died from a brain tumour and within weeks his father died and that has plunged him into what can only be described as morbid depression. On this day there was an argument with his partner which they both say was out of character.”

Judge George Moorhouse said: “Not only did you put yourself at risk but also the police and other road users and pedestrians if there were any.

“The pre-sentence report seems to suggest that if you were to go to prison for this offence it would have an adverse effect upon you. That’s your last chance.”

Nixon pleaded guilty to dangerous driving and was given a 12-month jail sentence suspended for two years with supervision for 12 months, 100 hours’ unpaid work and ordered to pass an extended driving test before driving again after a three-year ban.